Taiwan's entrepreneurs seeking success overseas

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Sensing that his once-enviable job could no longer provide an escape from his comfort zone, Alex Kuo (郭聰衡) decided to quit and pursue his dream, and so he opened his own wedding photo workshop in Melbourne in 2010.

Kuo used to be a software engineer at International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), a profession considered by others as the top of the island's social pyramid.

Two years after Kuo relocated to another high-tech job in Australia, the American financial tsunami hit the world, as well as Kuo's career.

"It was like an unexpected, abrupt turn for the worse when I learned my job was at risk — everything was suddenly up in the air" Kuo told The China Post. "However, it seems as if another door to a new world had just opened for me," he added.

Having taken up photography in university, Kuo had always dreamed of becoming a professional photographer, except that he had never done what it took to fulfill his ambitions. "Believing that I could do even better as a professional photographer than as an excellent engineer in a larger institution, I decided to take a chance by leaving my job to make my dream come true," said Kuo. In 2011, he embarked on his dream career as a wedding photographer by establishing Mighty Vision in Melbourne.

After overcoming teething problems, Kuo rose to fame and completed a transition to a professional photographer over a two-year period.

Over the last two years, Alex Kuo has won awards in Taiwan, Australia and the international photography community, including the International Loupe Awards Competition, Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP) Victorian Epson Professional Photography Awards, and Taiwan Top 20 Wedding photographers of the year.

Compared to other countries in Europe and America, which mainly focus on videography, Taiwan's wedding photography style is natural, lively and diverse.